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Well-Known Member

ACLU: Why we can no longer support the federal ‘religious freedom’ law

For more than 15 years, we have been concerned about how the RFRA could be used to discriminate against others. As the events of the past couple of years amply illustrate, our fears were well-founded

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Yes, religious freedom needs protection. But religious liberty doesn’t mean the right to discriminate or to impose one’s views on others. The RFRA wasn’t meant to force employees to pay a price for their employer’s faith, or to allow businesses to refuse to serve gay and transgender people, or to sanction government-funded discrimination. In the civil rights era, we rejected the claims of those who said it would violate their religion to integrate. We can’t let the RFRA be used as a tool for a different result now.

In a provocative piece in Time magazine, columnist Mark Oppenheimer has proposed following up Friday’s landmark Supreme Court decision imposing same-sex marriage on the nation with the abolition of tax exempt status for religious institutions.

To justify this one-two punch against religion and Christianity in particular, Oppenheimer throws out a series of lame-duck arguments, capitalizing on a cultural climate of hostility toward churches and a generalized feeling that religion has lost its special status in American society.

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Banned

To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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